Chapter VI: Part 6

No. 1.

TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.

_Paris, January 8th, 1811._

I have your New Year's letter. I thank you for its contents. I note with pleasure that you are well and happy. I hear that there are more women than men at Navarre.

My health is excellent, though I have not been out for a fortnight. Eugene appears to have no fears about his wife; he gives you a grandson.

Adieu, dear; keep well.

NAPOLEON.

* * * * *

_February 19th._--Soult defeats Spaniards at the Gebora, near
Badajoz.

_February 28th._--French occupy Duchy of Oldenburg, to complete
the line of the North Sea blockade against England. This
occupation embitters the Emperor of Russia and his family.

_March 10th._--Mortier captures Badajoz after a siege of 54 days.

_March 20th._--Birth of the _King of Rome_--"a pompous title
buried in the tomb of the Ostrogoths."

No. 2.

TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.

_Paris, March 22nd, 1811._

_My Dear_,--I have your letter. I thank you for it.

My son is fat, and in excellent health. I trust he may continue to improve. He has my chest, my mouth, and my eyes. I hope he may fulfil his destiny. I am always well pleased with Eugene; he has never given me the least anxiety.

NAPOLEON.

_April 4th._--Battle of Fuentes d'Onoro. Massena attacks English,
and is repulsed.

_June 18th._--Wellington raises siege of Badajoz, and retires on
Portugal.

_June 29th._--French storm Tarragona, whereupon Suchet created
Marshal.

No. 3.

TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

_Trianon, August 25th, 1811._

I have your letter. I see with pleasure that you are in good health. I have been for some days at Trianon. I expect to go to Compiegne. My health is very good.

Put some order into your affairs. Spend only L60,000, and save as much every year; that will make a reserve of L600,000 in ten years for your grandchildren. It is pleasant to be able to give them something, and be helpful to them. Instead of that, I hear you have debts, which would be really too bad. Look after your affairs, and don't give to every one who wants to help himself. If you wish to please me, let me hear that you have accumulated a large fortune. Consider how ill I must think of you, if I know that you, with L125,000 a year, are in debt.

Adieu, dear; keep well.

NAPOLEON.

No. 4.

TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

_Friday_, 8 A.M., 1811.

I send to know how you are, for Hortense tells me you were in bed yesterday. I was annoyed with you about your debts. I do not wish you to have any; on the contrary, I wish you to put a million aside every year, to give to your grandchildren when they get married.

Nevertheless, never doubt my affection for you, and don't worry any more about the present embarrassment.

Adieu, dear. Send me word that you are well. They say that you are as fat as a good Normandy farmeress.

NAPOLEON.

* * * * *

_October 25th-26th._--Battle of Murviedro and capture of Sagunto:
Blake and O'Donnell heavily defeated by Suchet.

_December 20th._--Senatus Consultus puts 120,000 conscripts (born
in 1792) at disposal of Government for 1812.

_December 26th._--Suchet defeats Spanish, and crosses Guadalaviar.

SERIES P

1812

"'Tis the same landscape which the modern Mars saw
Who march'd to Moscow, led by Fame, the siren!
To lose by one month's frost, some twenty years
Of conquest, and his guard of grenadiers."

--BYRON (_Don Juan_, canto x. stanza 58).

SERIES P

(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 312-315.)

LETTER PAGE

No. 1. Konigsberg 312

No. 2. _Gumbinnen_ 313

1812.

Montgaillard sums up his tirade against Napoleon for the Russian
campaign by noting that it took the Romans _ten_ years to conquer
Gaul, while Napoleon "would not give _two_ to the conquest of that
vast desert of Scythia which forced Darius to flee, Alexander to
draw back, Crassus to perish; where Julian terminated his career,
where Valerian covered himself with shame, and which saw the
disasters of Charles XII."

_January 9th._--Suchet captures Valencia, 18,000 Spanish troops,
and 400 cannon. The marshal is made Duke of Albufera.

_January 15th._--Imperial decree ordains 100,000 acres to be put
under cultivation of beetroot, for the manufacture of indigenous
sugar.

_January 19th._--Taking of Ciudad Rodrigo by Wellington.

_January 26th._--French, under General Friand, occupy Stralsund
and Swedish Pomerania.

_February 24th._--Treaty of alliance between France and Prussia;
the latter to support France in case of a war with Russia.

_March 13th._--Senatus Consultus divides the National Guards into
three bans, to include all capable men not already in military
service. They are not to serve outside France. A hundred cohorts,
each 970 strong, of the first ban (men between 20 and 26), put at
disposal of Government.

_March 14th._--Treaty between France and Austria; reciprocal help,
in need, of 30,000 men and 60 guns. The integrity of European
Turkey mutually guaranteed.

_March 26th._--Treaty between Russia and Sweden. Bernadotte is
promised Norway by Alexander.

_April 7th._--The English take Badajoz by assault. "The French
General, Philippon, with but 3000 men, has been besieged thrice
within thirteen months by armies of 50,000 men" (_Montgaillard_).

_April 24th._--Alexander leaves St. Petersburg, to take command of
his Grand Army.

_May 9th.--Napoleon leaves Paris for Germany._

_May 11th._--Assassination of English Prime Minister, Perceval.

_May 17th-28th.--Napoleon at Dresden; joined there by the Emperor
and Empress of Austria, and a fresh_ "parterre _of kings"._

_May 28th._---Treaty of Bucharest, between Turkey and Russia. The
Pruth as boundary, and Servia restored to Turkey. This treaty, so
fatal to Napoleon, and of which he only heard in October, was
mainly the work of Stratford de Redcliffe, then aged twenty-five.
Wellington, thinking the treaty his brother's work, speaks of it
as "the most important service that ever fell to the lot of any
individual to perform."

No. 1.

_June 12th._--Suchet defeats an Anglo-Spanish army outside
Tarragona.

TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

_June 12th, 1812._

_My Dear_,--I shall always receive news from you with great interest.

The waters will, I hope, do you good, and I shall see you with much pleasure on your return.

Never doubt the interest I feel in you. I will arrange all the matters of which you speak.

NAPOLEON.

* * * * *

_June 16th._--Lord Liverpool Prime Minister of England.

_June 18th._--United States declares war against England
concerning rights of neutrals.

_June 19th._--The captive Pope (Pius VII.) brought to Fontainebleau.

No. 2.

TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.

_Gumbinnen, June 20th, 1812._

I have your letter of June 10th. I see no obstacle to your going to Milan, to be near the Vice-Reine. You will do well to go _incognito_. You will find it very hot.

My health is very good. Eugene is well, and is doing good work. Never doubt the interest I have in you, and my friendship.

NAPOLEON.

* * * * *

_June 22nd.--Napoleon from his headquarters, Wilkowyszki, declares
war against Russia. His army comprised 550,000 men and 1200
cannon, and he held sway at this epoch over 85,000,000 souls--half
the then population of Europe._

_June 24th._--French cross the Niemen, over 450,000 strong.[40] Of
these 20,000 are Italians, 80,000 from Confederation of the Rhine,
30,000 Poles, 30,000 Austrians, and 20,000 Prussians. The Russian
army numbers 360,000.

_June 28th._--French enter Wilna, the old capital of Lithuania.
_Napoleon remains here till July 16th, establishing a provisional
government, and leaving his Foreign Minister, Maret, there._

_July 12th._--Americans invade Canada.

_July 18th._--Treaty of peace between England and Sweden; and
between Russia and the Spanish Regency at Cadiz.

_July 22nd._--_Battle of Salamanca_ (Arapiles). Marmont defeated
by Wellington, and badly wounded. French lose nearly 8000 men and
5000 prisoners; English loss, 5200. The Spanish Regency had
decided to submit to Joseph Bonaparte, but this battle deters
them. French retire behind the Douro.

_July 23rd._--Combat of Mohilow, on the Dneiper. Davoust defeats
Bagration.

_July 28th._--French enter Witepsk.

_August 1st._--Treaty of alliance between Great Britain and
Russia. English fleet henceforward guards the Gulf of Riga. Combat
of Obaiarzma, on the bank of the Drissa. Marshal Oudinot defeats
Wittgenstein. Russians lose 5000 men and 14 guns.

_August 9th._--Battle of Brownstown (near Toronto). Americans
defeated; surrender August 16th with 2500 men and 33 guns to
General Brock.

_August 12th._--Wellington enters Madrid.

_August 17th-18th.--Battle and capture of Smolensk. Napoleon
defeats Barclay de Tolly; Russians lose 12,000, French less than
half._

_August 18th._--Battle of Polotsk, fifty miles from Witepsk, down
the Dwina. St. Cyr defeats Wittgenstein's much larger army, and
takes 20 guns. (St. Cyr made marshal for this battle, August
27th.)

_August 19th._--Combat of Volontino-Cova, beyond Smolensk. Ney
defeats Russians.

_August 27th._--Norway guaranteed Sweden in lieu of Finland by
Russia.

_August 28th._--Interview at Abo, in Finland, between Alexander,
Bernadotte, and Lord Cathcart (English ambassador). Decided that
Sweden shall join the crusade against France, and that Moreau be
imported from U.S.A. to command another army.

_August 29th._--Viazma, burnt by Russians, entered by the French.

_September 7th._--Battle of Borodino (_La Moskowa_). Nearly all
the Russian generals are present: Barclay de Tolly, Beningsen,
Bagration (who is killed), all under Kutusoff. Russians lose
30,000 men, French 20,000, including many generals who had
survived all the campaigns of the Revolution. The French, hungry
and soaked in rain, have no energy to pursue.

_September 14th._--Occupation of Moscow; fired by emissaries of
Rostopchin, its late governor. Of 4000 stone houses only 200
remain, of 8000 wooden ones 500. Over 20,000 sick and wounded
burnt in their beds. Fire lasts till September 20th.

_September 18th._--Russian Army of the Danube under Admiral
Tschitchagow joins the Army of Reserve.

_September 26th._--Russian troops from Finland disembark at Riga.

_September 30th.--Napoleon finds a copy of Treaty of Bucharest at
Moscow._

_October 11th._--Admiral Tschitchagow with 36,000 men reaches
Bresc, on the Bug, threatening the French communications with
Warsaw.

_October 17th-19th._--Second combat of Polotsk. Wittgenstein again
defeated by St. Cyr, who is wounded.

_October 18th._--Combat of Winkowo; Kutusoff defeats Murat.
Americans defeated at Queenston Heights, on the Niagara, and lose
900 men.

_October 19th._--Commencement of the Retreat from Moscow.

_October 22nd._--Burgos captured by Wellington.

_October 23rd._--Conspiracy of Malet at Paris; Cambaceres to the
rescue. Evacuation of Moscow by Mortier after forty days'
occupation. The French army now retreating has only half its
original strength, and the best cavalry regiments boast only 100
horses.

_October 24th.--Battle of Malo-Jaroslavitz. Eugene with 17,000_
_men defeats Kutusoff with 60,000; but Napoleon finds the enemy
too strong and too tenacious to risk the fertile Kaluga route._

_November 3rd._--Battle of Wiazma. Rearguard action, in which Ney
and Eugene are distinguished.

_November 9th.--Napoleon reaches Smolensk and hears of Malet
conspiracy._

_November 14th._--Evacuation of Smolensk.

_November 16th._--Russian Army (of the Danube) takes Minsk, and
cuts off the French from the Niemen.

_November 16th-19th._--Combat of Krasnoi, twenty-five miles west
of Smolensk. Kutusoff with 30,000 horse and 70,000 foot tries to
stop the French, who have only 25,000 effective combatants.
Magnificent fighting by Ney with his rearguard of 6000.

_November 21st._--Russians seize at Borizow the bridges over the
Beresina, which are

_November 23rd._--Retaken by Oudinot.

_November 26th-28th._--French cross the Beresina, but lose 20,000
prisoners and nearly all their cannon (150).

_November 29th.--Napoleon writes Maret he has heard nothing of
France or Spain for fifteen days._

_December 3rd._--Twenty-ninth bulletin dated Malodeczna, fifty
miles west of Borisow.

_December 5th.--Napoleon reaches Smorgoni, and starts for
France._

_December 10th._--Murat, left in command, evacuates Wilna. French
retreat in utter rout; "It is not General Kutusoff who routed the
French, it is General Morosow" (the frost), said the Russians.

_December 14th.--Napoleon reaches Dresden, and_

_December 18th.--Paris._

_December 19th._--Evacuation of Kovno and passage of the Niemen.

_December 20th.--Napoleon welcomed by the Senate in a speech by
the naturalist Lacepede: "The absence of your Majesty, sire, is
always a national calamity."_

_December 30th._--Defection of the Prussian General York and
Convention of Taurogen, near Tilsit, between Russia and Prussia.
This defection is the signal for the uprising of Germany from the
Oder to the Rhine, from the Baltic to the Julienne Alps.

1813.

_January 5th._--Konigsberg occupied by the Russians.

_January 13th._--Senatus Consultus calls up 250,000 conscripts.

_January 22nd._--Americans defeated at Frenchtown, near Detroit,
and lose 1200 men.

_January 25th.--Concordat at Fontainebleau between Napoleon and
Pope Pius VII., with advantageous terms for the Papacy. The Pope,
however, soon breaks faith._

_January 28th.--Murat deserts the French army for Naples, and
leaves Posen. "Your husband is very brave on the battlefield, but
he is weaker than a woman or a monk when he is not face to face
with an enemy. He has no moral courage"_ (_Napoleon to his sister
Caroline, January 24, 1813._ Brotonne, 1032). _Replaced by Eugene
(Napoleon's letter dated January 22nd)._

_February 1st._--Proclamation of Louis XVIII. to the French people
(dated London).

_February 8th._--Warsaw surrenders to Russia.

_February 10th._--Proclamation of Emperor Alexander calling on the
people of Germany to shake off the yoke of "one man."

_February 28th._--Sixth Continental Coalition against France.
Treaty signed between Russia and Prussia at Kalisch.

_March 3rd._--New treaty between England and Sweden at Stockholm:
Sweden to receive a subsidy of a million sterling and the island
of Guadaloupe in return for supporting the Coalition with 30,000
men.

_March 4th._--Cossacks occupy Berlin. Madison inaugurated
President U.S.A.

_March 9th._--Eugene removes his headquarters to Leipsic.

_March 12th._--French evacuate Hamburg.

_March 21st._--Russians and Prussians take new town of Dresden.

_April 1st._--France declares war on Prussia.

_April 10th._--_Death of Lagrange, mathematician_; _greatly bemoaned
by Napoleon, who considered his death as a "presentiment"_
(D'Abrantes).

_April 14th._--Swedish army lands in Germany.

_April 15th.--Napoleon leaves Paris; arrives Erfurt (April 25th)._
Americans take Mobile.

_April 16th._--Thorn (garrisoned by 900 Bavarians) surrenders to
the Russians. Fort York (now Toronto) and

_April 27th._--Upper Canada taken by the Americans.

_May 1st._--Death of the Abbe Delille, poet. Opening of campaign.
French forces scattered in Germany, 166,000 men; Allies' forces
ready for action, 225,000 men. Marshal Bessieres killed by a
cannon-ball at Poserna.

_May 2nd.--Napoleon with 90,000 men defeats Prussians and Russians
at Lutzen (Gross-Goerschen) with 110,000; French loss, 10,000.
Battle won_ _chiefly by French artillery. Emperor of Russia and
King of Prussia present._

_May 8th.--Napoleon and the French reoccupy Dresden._

_May 18th._--Eugene reaches Milan, and enrols an Italian army
47,000 strong.

_May 19th-21st.--Combats of Konigswartha, Bautzen, Hochkirch,
Wuerschen. Napoleon defeats Prussians and Russians; French loss,
12,000; Allies, 20,000._

_May 23rd.--Duroc (shot on May 22nd) dies. "Duroc," said the
Emperor, "there is another life. It is there you will go to await
me, and there we shall meet again some day."_

_May 27th._--Americans capture Fort George (Lake Ontario) and

_May 29th._--Defeat English at Sackett's Harbour.

_May 30th._--French re-enter Hamburg and

_June 1st._--Occupy Breslau. British frigate _Shannon_ captures
_Chesapeake_ in fifteen minutes outside Boston harbour.

_June 4th.--Armistice of Plesswitz, between Napoleon and the
Allies._

_June 6th._--Americans (3500) surprised at Burlington Heights by
700 British.

_June 15th.--Siege of Tarragona raised by Suchet; English
re-embark, leaving their artillery. "If I had had two marshals
such as Suchet, I should not only have conquered Spain, but I
should have kept it"_ (_Napoleon in_ Campan's Memoirs).

_June 21st._--Battle of Vittoria; total rout of the French under
Marshal Jourdan and King Joseph. In retreat the army is much more
harassed by the guerillas than by the English.

_June 23rd._--Admiral Cockburn defeated at Craney Island by
Americans.

_June 24th._--Five hundred Americans surrender to two hundred
Canadians at Beaver's Dams.

_June 25th._--Combat of Tolosa. Foy stops the advance of the
English right wing.

_June 30th.--Convention at Dresden. Napoleon accepts the mediation
of Austria; armistice prolonged to August 10th._

_July 1st._--Soult sent to take chief command in Spain.

_July 10th._--Alliance between France and Denmark.

_July 12th.--Congress of Prague. Austria, Prussia, and Russia
decide that Germany must be independent, and the French Empire
bounded by the Rhine and the Alps; "but to reign over 36,000,000
men did not appear to Napoleon a sufficiently great destiny"_
(Montgaillard). _Congress breaks up July 28th._

_July 26th._--Moreau arrives from U.S., and lands at Gothenburg.

_July 31st._--Soult attacks Anglo-Spanish army near Roncesvalles
in order to succour Pampeluna. Is repulsed, with loss of 8000
men.

_August 12th._--Austria notifies its adhesion to the Allies.

_August 15th.--Jomini, the Swiss tactician, turns traitor and
escapes to the Allies. He advises them of Napoleon's plans to
seize Berlin and relieve Dantzic [see letter to Ney, No. 19,714,
20,006, and especially 20,360 (August 12th) in_ Correspondence].
_On August 16th Napoleon writes to Cambaceres: "Jomini, Ney's
chief of staff, has deserted. It is he who published some volumes
on the campaigns and who has been in the pay of Russia for a long
time. He has yielded to corruption. He is a soldier of little
value, yet he is a writer who has grasped some of the sound
principles of war."_

_August 17th.--Renewal of hostilities in Germany. Napoleon's army,
280,000, of whom half recruits who had never seen a battle; the
Allies 520,000, excluding militia. In his counter-manifesto to
Austria, dated Bautzen, Napoleon declares "Austria, the enemy of
France, and cloaking her ambition under the mask of a mediation,
complicated everything.... But Austria, our avowed foe, is in a
truer guise, and one perfectly obvious. Europe is therefore much
nearer peace; there is one complication the less."_

_August 18th._--Suchet, having blown up fortifications of
Tarragona, evacuates Valentia.

_August 21st._--Opening of the campaign in Italy. Eugene, with
50,000 men, commands the Franco-Italian army.

_August 23rd._--Combats of Gross-Beeren and Ahrensdorf, near
Berlin. Bernadotte defeats Oudinot with loss of 1500 men and 20
guns. Berlin is preserved to the Allies. Oudinot replaced by Ney.
Lauriston defeats Army of Silesia at Goldberg with heavy loss.

_August 26th-27th.--Battle of Dresden.--Napoleon marches a hundred
miles in seventy hours to the rescue. With less than 100,000 men
he defeats the Allied Army of 180,000 under Schwartzenberg,
Wittgenstein, and Kleist. Austrians lose 20,000 prisoners and 60
guns. Moreau is mortally wounded (dies September 1st)._ Combat of
the Katzbach, in Silesia. Blucher defeats Macdonald with heavy
loss, who loses 10,000 to 12,000 men in his retreat.

_August 30th._--Combat of Kulm. Vandamme enveloped in Bohemia, and
surrenders with 12,000 men.

_August 31st._--Combat of Irun. Soult attacks Wellington to save
San Sebastian, but is repulsed. Graham storms San Sebastian.

_September 6th._--Combat of Dennewitz (near Berlin). Ney routed by
Bulow and Bernadotte; loses his artillery, baggage, and 12,000
men.

_September 10th_--Americans capture the English flotilla on Lake
Erie.

_September 12th._--Combat of Villafranca (near Barcelona). Suchet
defeats English General Bentinck.

_October 7th._--Wellington crosses the Bidassoa into France. "It
is on the frontier of France itself that ends the enterprise of
Napoleon on Spain. The Spaniards have given the first conception
of a people's war versus a war of professionals. For it would be a
mistake to think that the battles of Salamanca (July 22nd, 1812)
and Vittoria (June 21st, 1813) forced the French to abandon the
Peninsula.... It was the daily losses, the destruction of man by
man, the drops of French blood falling one by one, which in five
years aggregated a death-roll of 150,000 men. As to the English,
they appeared in this war only as they do in every world-crisis,
to gather, in the midst of general desolation, the fruits of their
policy, and to consolidate their plans of maritime despotism, of
exclusive commerce" (Montgaillard).

_October 15th._--Bavarian army secedes and joins the Austrians.

_October 16th-19th.--Battles of Leipsic._ _Allied army_ 330,000
men (_Schwartzenberg_, _Bernadotte_, _Blucher_, _Beningsen_),
_Napoleon_ 175,000. _Twenty-six battalions and ten squadrons of
Saxon and Wurtemberg men leave Napoleon and turn their guns
against the French. Napoleon is not defeated, but determines to
retreat. The rearguard (20,000 men) and 200 cannon taken.
Poniatowski drowned; Reynier and Lauriston captured._

_October 20th._--Blucher made Field-Marshal.

_October 23rd._--French army reach Erfurt.

_October 30th.--Combat of Hanau. Napoleon defeats Wrede with heavy
loss._

_October 31st._--Combat and capture of Bassano by Eugene. English
capture Pampeluna.

_November 2nd.--Napoleon arrives at Mayence (where typhus carries
off 40,000 French), and is_

_November 9th.--At St. Cloud._

_November 10th._--Wellington defeats Soult at St. Jean de Luz.

_November 11th._--Surrender of Dresden by Gouvion St. Cyr; its
French soldiers to return under parole to France. Austrians refuse
to ratify the convention, and 1700 officers and 23,000 men remain
prisoners of war.

_November 14th.--Napoleon addresses the Senate: "All Europe
marched with us a year ago; all Europe marches against us to-day.
That is because the world's opinion is directed either by France
or England."_

_November 15th._--Eugene defeats Austrians at Caldiero.
Senatus-Consultus puts 300,000 conscripts at disposal of
government.

_November 24th._--Capture of Amsterdam by Prussian General Bulow.

_December 1st._--Allies declare at Frankfort that they are at war
with the Emperor and not with France.

_December 2nd._--Bulow occupies Utrecht. Holland secedes from the
French Empire.

_December 5th._--Capture of Lubeck by the Swedes, and surrender of
Stettin (7000 prisoners), Zamosk (December 22nd), Modlin (December
25th), and Torgau (December 26th, with 10,000 men).

_December 8th-13th._--Soult defends the passage of the Nive--costly
to both sides. Murat (now hostile to Napoleon) enters Ancona.

_December 9th-10th._--French evacuate Breda.

_December 11th.--Treaty of Valencay between Napoleon and his
prisoner Ferdinand VII., who is to reign over Spain, but not to
cede Minorca or Ceuta (now in their power} to the English._

_December 15th._--Denmark secedes from French alliance.

_December 21st._--Allies, 100,000 strong, cross the Rhine in ten
divisions (Bale to Schaffhausen). Jomini is said to have
contributed to this violation of Swiss territory.

_December 24th._--Final evacuation of Holland by the French.

_December 28th._--Austrians capture Ragusa.

_December 31st.--Napoleon, having trouble with his Commons,
dissolves the Corps Legislatif._ Austrians capture Geneva. Blucher
crosses the Rhine at Mannheim and Coblentz. Exclusive of Landwehr
and levies en masse, there are now a million trained men in arms
against Napoleon.

* * * * *

1814.

"The Allied Powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon was
the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of the Peace of Europe,
the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oath, declares that he
renounces, for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and
Italy, and that there is no personal sacrifice, even that of life
itself, that he will not be ready to make for the sake of
France."--(_Act of Abdication._)

* * * * *

_January 1st._--Capitulation of Danzic, which General Rapp had
defended for nearly a year, having lost 20,000 (out of 30,000) men
by fever. Russians, who had promised to send the French home,
break faith, following the example of Schwartzenberg at Dresden.

_January 2nd._--Russians take Fort Louis (Lower Rhine); and

_January 3rd._--Austrians Montbeliard; and Bavarians Colmar.

_January 6th._--General York occupies Treves. Convention between
Murat and England and (January 11th) with Austria. Murat is to
join Allies with 30,000 men.

_January 7th._--Austrians occupy Vesoul.

_January 8th._--French Rentes 5 per cents. at 47.50. Wurtemberg
troops occupy Epinal.

_January 10th._--General York reaches Forbach (on the Moselle).

_January 15th._--Cossacks occupy Cologne.

_January 16th._--Russians occupy Nancy.

_January 19th._--Austrians occupy Dijon; Bavarians, Neufchateau.
Murat's troops occupy Rome.

_January 20th._--Capture of Toul by the Russians; and of Chambery
by the Austrians.

_January 21st._--Austrians occupy Chalons-sur-Saone. General York
crosses the Meuse.

_January 23rd._--Pope Pius VII. returns to Rome.

_January 25th._--General York and Army of Silesia established at
St. Dizier and Joinville on the Marne. Austrians occupy
Bar-sur-Aube. _Napoleon leaves Paris; and_

_January 26th.--Reaches Chalons-sur-Marne; and_

_January 27th.--Retakes St. Dizier in person._

_January 29th.--Combat of Brienne. Napoleon defeats Blucher._

_February 1st._--Battle of La Rothiere, six miles north of
Brienne. French, 40,000; Allies, 110,000. Drawn battle, but French
retreat on Troyes; French evacuate Brussels.

_February 4th._--Eugene retires upon the Mincio.

_February 5th.--Cortes disavow Napoleon's treaty of Valencay with
Ferdinand VII._ Opening of Congress of Chatillon. General York
occupies Chalons-sur-Marne.

_February 7th._--Allies seize Troyes.

_February 8th._--Battle of the Mincio. Eugene with 30,000
conscripts defeats Austrians under Bellegarde with 50,000
veterans.

_February 10th.--Combat of Champaubert. Napoleon defeats
Russians._

_February 11th.--Combat of Montmirail. Napoleon defeats Sacken.
Russians occupy Nogent-sur-Seine; and_

_February 12th.--Laon._

_February 14th.--Napoleon routs Blucher at Vauchamp. His losses,
10,000 men; French loss, 600 men. In five days Napoleon has wiped
out the five corps of the Army of Silesia, inflicting a loss of
25,000 men._

_February 17th.--Combat near Nangis. Napoleon defeats Austro-Russians
with loss of 10,000 men and 12 cannon._

_February 18th._--Combat of Montereau. Prince Royal of Wurtemberg
defeated with loss of 7000.

_February 21st._--Comte d'Artois arrives at Vesoul.

_February 22nd._--Combat of Mery-sur-Seine. Sacken defeated by
Boyer's Division, who fight in masks--it being Shrove Tuesday.

_February 24th._--French re-enter Troyes.

_February 27th._--Bulow captures La Fere with large stores. Battle
of Orthes (Pyrenees), Wellington with 70,000 defeats Soult
entrenched with 38,000. Foy badly wounded.

_February 27th-28th._--Combats of Bar and Ferte-sur-Aube. Marshals
Oudinot and Macdonald forced to retire on the Seine.

_March 1st._--Treaty of Chaumont--Allies against Napoleon.

_March 2nd._--Bulow takes Soissons.

_March 4th._--Macdonald evacuates Troyes.

_March 7th.--Battle of Craonne between Napoleon (30,000 men) and
Sacken (100,000)._ Indecisive.

_March 9th._--English driven from Berg-op-Zoom.

_March 9th-10th.--Combat under Laon: depot of Allied army.
Napoleon fails to capture it._

_March 12th._--Duc d'Angouleme arrives at Bordeaux. This town is
the first to declare for the Bourbons, and to welcome him as Louis
XVIII.

_March 13th._--Ferdinand VII. set at liberty.

_March 14th.--Napoleon retakes Rheims from the Russians._

_March 19th._--Rupture of Treaty of Chatillon.

_March 20th._--Battle of Tarbes. Wellington defeats French.

_March 20th-21st._--Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube. Indecisive.

_March 21st._--Austrians enter Lyons. Augereau retires on Valence.
Had Eugene joined him with his 40,000 men he might have saved
France after Vauchamp.

_March 25th._--Combat of Fere-Champenoise. Marmont and Mortier
defeated with loss of 9000 men.

_March 26th.--Combat of St. Dizier. Napoleon defeats Russians, and
starts to save Paris._

_March 29th.--Allies outside Paris. Napoleon at Troyes (125 miles
off)._

_March 30th.--Battle of Paris._ The Emperor's orders disobeyed.
Heavy cannon from Cherbourg left outside Paris, also 20,000
men. Clarke deserts to the Allies. Joseph runs away, leaving
Marmont permission to capitulate. After losing 5000 men (and
Allies 8000) Marmont evacuates Paris and retires. _Napoleon
reaches Fontainebleau in the evening, and hears the bad news._

_March 31st._--Emperor of Russia, King of Prussia, and 36,000 men
enter Paris. Stocks and shares advance. Emperor Alexander states,
"The Allied Sovereigns will treat no longer with Napoleon
Bonaparte, nor any of his family."

_April 1st._--Senate, with Talleyrand as President, institute a
Provisional Government.

_April 2nd._--Provisional Government address the army: "You are no
longer the soldiers of Napoleon; the Senate and the whole of
France absolve you from your oaths." They also declare Napoleon
deposed from the throne, and his family from the succession.

_April 4th.--Napoleon signs a declaration of abdication in favour
of his son, but after two days' deliberation, and Marmont's
defection, Alexander insists on an absolute abdication._

_April 5th._--Convention of Chevilly. Marmont agrees to join the
Provisional Government, and disband his army under promise that
Allies will guarantee life and liberty to Napoleon Bonaparte.
Funds on March 29th at 45, now at 63.75.

_April 6th._--New Constitution decreed by the Senate. The National
Guard ordered to wear the White Cockade in lieu of the Tricolor.

_April 10th._--Battle of Toulouse. Hotly contested; almost a
defeat for Wellington.

_April 11th.--Treaty of Paris between Napoleon and Allies
(Austria, Russia, and Prussia). Isle of Elba reserved for Napoleon
and his family, with a revenue of L200,000; the Duchies of Parma
and Placentia for Marie Louise and her son. England accedes to
this Treaty. Act of Abdication of the Emperor Napoleon._

_April 12th._--Count d'Artois enters Paris.

_April 16th._--Convention between Eugene and Austrian General
Bellegarde. Emperor of Austria sees Marie Louise at the little
Trianon, and decides upon his daughter's return to Vienna.

_April 18th._--Armistice of Soult and Wellington.

_April 20th.--Napoleon leaves Fontainebleau, and bids adieu to his
Old Guard: "Do not mourn over my fate; if I have determined to
survive, it is in order still to dedicate myself to your glory; I
wish to write about the great things we have done together."_

_April 24th._--Louis XVIII. lands at Calais, and

_May 3rd._---Enters Paris.

_May 4th.---Napoleon reaches Elba._

_May 29th.--Death of Josephine, aged 51._

_May 30th.--Peace of Paris._

FOOTNOTES

[40] Averaged from early historians of the campaigns. Marbot gives the
numbers 155,400 French and 175,000 Allies. Allowing for the
secession of the Austrian and Prussian contingents and for
30,000 prisoners, he gives the actual French death-roll by
February 1813 at 65,000. This is a minimum estimate.

NOTES

_THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS, 1796-97_

SERIES A

(_The numbers correspond to the numbers of the Letters._)

No. 1.

_Bonaparte made Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy._--Marmont's account of how this came to pass is probably substantially correct, as he has less interest in distorting the facts than any other writer as well fitted for the task. The winter had rolled by in the midst of pleasures--soirees at the Luxembourg, dinners of Madame Tallien, "nor," he adds, "were we hard to please." "The Directory often conversed with General Bonaparte about the army of Italy, whose general--Scherer--was always representing the position as difficult, and never ceasing to ask for help in men, victuals, and money. General Bonaparte showed, in many concise observations, that all that was superfluous. He strongly blamed the little advantage taken from the victory at Loano, and asserted that, even yet, all that could be put right. Thus a sort of controversy was maintained between Scherer and the Directory, counselled and inspired by Bonaparte." At last when Bonaparte drew up plans--afterwards followed--for the invasion of Piedmont, Scherer replied roughly that he who had drawn up the plan of campaign had better come and execute it. They took him at his word, and Bonaparte was named General-in-Chief of the army of Italy (vol. i. 93).

"_7 A.M._"--Probably written early in March. Leaving Paris on March 11th, Napoleon writes Letourneur, President of the Directory, of his marriage with the "citoyenne Tascher Beauharnais," and tells him that he has already asked Barras to inform them of the fact. "The confidence which the Directory has shown me under all circumstances makes it my duty to keep it advised of all my actions. It is a new link which binds me to the fatherland; it is one more proof of my fixed determination to find safety only in the Republic."[41]

No. 2.

"_Our good Ossian._"--The Italian translation of Ossian by Cesarotti was a masterpiece; better, in fact, than the original. He was a friend of Macpherson, and had learnt English in order to translate his work. Cesarotti lived till an advanced age, and was sought out in his retirement in order to receive honours and pensions from the Emperor Napoleon.

"Our good Ossian" speaks, like Homer, of the joy of grief.

No. 4.

"_Chauvet is dead._"--Chauvet is first mentioned in Napoleon's correspondence in a letter to his brother Joseph, August 9, 1795. Mdme. Junot, _Memoirs_, i. 138, tells us that Bonaparte was very fond of him, and that he was a man of gentle manners and very ordinary conversation. She declares that Bonaparte had been a suitor for the hand of her mother shortly before his marriage with Josephine, and that because the former rejected him, the general had refused a favour to her son; this had caused a quarrel which Chauvet had in vain tried to settle. On March 27th Bonaparte had written Chauvet from Nice that every day that he delayed joining him, "takes away from my operations one chance of probability for their success."

No. 5.

St. Amand notes that Bonaparte begins to suspect his wife in this letter, while the previous ones, especially that of April 3rd, show perfect confidence. Napoleon is on the eve of a serious battle, and has only just put his forces into fighting trim. On the previous day (April 6th) he wrote to the Directory that the movement against Genoa, of which he does not approve, has brought the enemy out of their winter quarters almost before he has had time to make ready. "The army is in a state of alarming destitution; I have still great difficulties to surmount, but they are surmountable: misery has excused want of discipline, and without discipline never a victory. I hope to have all in good trim shortly--there are signs already; in a few days we shall be fighting. The Sardinian army consists of 50,000 foot, and 5000 horse; I have only 45,000 men at my disposal, all told. Chauvet, the commissary-general, died at Genoa: it is a heavy loss to the army, he was active and enterprising."

Two days later Napoleon, still at Albenga, reports that he has found Royalist traitors in the army, and complains that the Treasury had not sent the promised pay for the men, "but in spite of all, we shall advance." Massena, eleven years older than his new commander-in-chief, had received him coldly, but soon became his right-hand man, always genial, and full of good ideas. Massena's men are ill with too much salt meat, they have hardly any shoes, but, as in 1800,[42] he has never a doubt that Bonaparte will make a good campaign, and determines to loyally support him. Poor Laharpe, so soon to die, is a man of a different stamp--one of those, doubtless, of whom Bonaparte thinks when he writes to Josephine, "Men worry me." The Swiss, in fact, was a chronic grumbler, but a first-rate fighting man, even when his men were using their last cartridges.

"_The lovers of nineteen._"--The allusion is lost. Aubenas, who reproduces two or three of these letters, makes a comment to this sentence, "Nous n'avons pu trouver un nom a mettre sous cette fantasque imagination" (vol. i. 317).

"_My brother_," viz. Joseph.--He and Junot reached Paris in five days, and had a great ovation. Carnot, at a dinner-party, showed Napoleon's portrait next to his heart, because "I foresee he will be the saviour of France, and I wish him to know that he has at the Directory only admirers and friends."

No. 6.

_Unalterably good._--"C'est Joseph peint d'un seul trait."--Aubenas (vol. i. 320).

"_If you want a place for any one, you can send him here. I will give him one._"--Bonaparte was beginning to feel firm in the saddle, while at Paris Josephine was treated like a princess. Under date April 25th, Letourneur, as one of the Directory, writes him, "A vast career opens itself before you; the Directory has measured the whole extent of it." They little knew! The letter concludes by expressing confidence that their general will never be reproached with the shameful repose of Capua. In a further letter, bearing the same date, Letourneur insists on a full and accurate account of the battles being sent, as they will be necessary "for the history of the triumphs of the Republic." In a private letter to the Directory (No. 220, vol. i. of the _Correspondence_, 1858), dated Carru, April 24th, Bonaparte tells them that when he returns to camp, worn-out, he has to work all night to put matters straight, and repress pillage. "Soldiery without bread work themselves into an excess of frenzy which makes one blush to be a man."[43]... "I intend to make terrible examples. I shall restore order, or cease to command these brigands. The campaign is not yet decided. The enemy is desperate, numerous, and fights well. He knows I am in want of everything, and trusts entirely to time; but I trust entirely to the good genius of the Republic, to the bravery of the soldiers, to the harmony of the officers, and even to the confidence they repose in me."

No. 7.

Aubenas goes into ecstasies over this letter, "the longest, most eloquent, and most impassioned of the whole series" (vol. i. 322).

Facsimile of Letter dated April 24, 1796.

_June 15._--Here occurs the first gap in the correspondence, but his letters to the Directory between this date and the last letter to Josephine extant (April 24) are full of interest, including his conscientious disobedience at Cherasco, and the aura of his destiny to "ride the whirlwind and direct the storm" which first inspired him after Lodi. On April 28th was signed the armistice of Cherasco, by which his rear was secured by three strong fortresses.[44] He writes the Directory that Piedmont is at their mercy, and that in making the armistice into a definite peace he trusts they will not forget the little island of Saint-Pierre, which will be more useful in the future than Corsica and Sardinia combined. He looks upon northern Italy as practically conquered, and speaks of invading Bavaria through the Tyrol. "Prodigious" is practically the verdict of the Directory, and later of Jomini. "My columns are marching; Beaulieu flees. I hope to catch him. I shall impose a contribution of some millions on the Duke of Parma: he will sue for peace: don't be in a hurry, so that I may have time to make him also contribute to the cost of the campaign, by replenishing our stores and rehorsing our waggons at his expense." Bonaparte suggests that Genoa should pay fifteen millions indemnity for the frigates and vessels taken in the port. Certain risks had to be run in invading Lombardy, owing to want of horse artillery, but at Cherasco he secured artillery and horses. When writing to the Directory for a dozen companies, he tells them not to entrust the execution of this measure "to the men of the bureaus, for it takes them ten days to forward an order." Writing to Carnot on the same day he states he is marching against Beaulieu, who has 26,000 foot out of 38,000 at commencement of campaign. Napoleon's force is 28,000, but he has less cavalry. On May 1st, in a letter dated Acqui to Citizen Faipoult, he asks for particulars of the pictures, statues, &c., of Milan, Parma, Placentia, Modena, and Bologna. On the same day Massena writes that his men are needing shoes. On May 6th Bonaparte announces the capture of Tortona, "a very fine fortress, which cost the King of Sardinia over fifteen millions," while Cherasco has furnished him with twenty-eight guns. Meanwhile Massena has taken possession of Alessandria, with all its stores. On May 9th Napoleon writes to Carnot, "We have at last crossed the Po. The second campaign is begun; Beaulieu ... has fool-hardiness but no genius. One more victory, and Italy is ours." A clever commissary-general is all he needs, and his men are growing fat--with good meat and good wine. He sends to Paris twenty old masters, with fine examples of Correggio and Michael-Angelo. It is pleasant to find Napoleon's confidence in Carnot, in view of Barras' insinuations that the latter had cared only for Moreau--his type of Xenophon. In this very letter Napoleon writes Carnot, "I owe you my special thanks for the care that you have kindly given to my wife; I recommend her to you, she is a sincere patriot, and I love her to distraction." He is sending "a dozen millions" to France, and hopes that some of it will be useful to the army of the Rhine. Meanwhile, and two days before Napoleon's letter to Carnot just mentioned, the latter, on behalf of the Directory, suggests the division of his command with the old Alsatian General Kellermann. The Directory's idea of a gilded pill seems to be a prodigiously long letter. It is one of those heart-breaking effusions that, even to this day, emanate from board-rooms, to the dismay and disgust of their recipients. After plastering him with sickening sophistries as to his "sweetest recompense," it gives the utterly unnecessary monition, "March! no fatal repose, there are still laurels to gather"! Nevertheless, his plan of ending the war by an advance through the Tyrol strikes them as too risky. He is to conquer the Milanais, and then divide his army with Kellermann, who is to guard the conquered province, while he goes south to Naples and Rome. As an implied excuse for not sending adequate reinforcements, Carnot adds, "The exaggerated rumours that you have skilfully disseminated as to the numbers of the French troops in Italy, will augment the fear of our enemies and almost double your means of action." The Milanais is to be heavily mulcted, but he is to be prudent. If Rome makes advances, his first demand should be that the Pope may order immediate public prayers for the prosperity and success of the French Republic! The sending of old masters to France to adorn her National Galleries seems to have been entirely a conception of Napoleon's. He has given sufficiently good reasons, from a patriotic point of view; for money is soon spent, but a masterpiece may encourage Art among his countrymen a generation later. The plunderers of the Parthenon of 1800 could not henceforward throw stones at him in this respect. But his real object was to win the people of Paris by thus sending them Glory personified in unique works of genius.

The Directory, already jealous of his fame, endeavour to neutralise the effect of his initiative by hearty concurrence, and write, "Italy has been illumined and enriched by their possession, but the time is now come when their reign should pass to France to stablish and beautify that of Liberty." The despatch adds somewhat naively that the effects of the vandalism committed during their own Republican orgies would be obliterated by this glorious campaign, which should "join to the splendour of military trophies the charm of beneficent and restful arts." The Directory ends by inviting him to choose one or two artists to select the most valuable pictures and other masterpieces.

Meanwhile, the Directory's supineness in pushing on the war on the Rhine is enabling the Austrians to send large reinforcements against Napoleon. Bonaparte, who has recently suffered (Jomini, vol. viii. 113) from Kellermann's tardiness in sending reinforcements at an important moment, replies to the letters of May 7th a week later, and writes direct to Citizen Carnot from Lodi, as well as to the Executive Directory. "On the receipt of the Directory's letter of the 7th your wishes were fulfilled, and the Milanais is ours. I shall shortly march, to carry out your intentions, on Leghorn and Rome; all that will soon be done. I am writing the Directory relatively to their idea of dividing the army. I swear that I have no thought beyond the interest of my country. Moreover, you will always find me straight (_dans la ligne droite_).... As it might happen that this letter to the Directory may be badly construed, and since you have assured me of your friendship, I take this opportunity of addressing you, begging you to make what use of it your prudence and attachment for me may suggest.... Kellermann will command the army as well as I, for no one is more convinced than I am that the victories are due to the courage and pluck of the army; but I think joining Kellermann and myself in Italy is to lose everything. I cannot serve willingly with a man who considers himself the first general in Europe; and, besides, I believe one bad general is better than two good ones. War is like government: it is an affair of tact. To be of any use, I must enjoy the same confidence that you testified to me in Paris. Where I make war, here or there, is a matter of indifference. To serve my country, to deserve from posterity a page in our history, to give the Government proofs of my attachment and devotion--that is the sum of my ambition. But I am very anxious not to lose in a week the fatigues, anxieties, and dangers of two months, and to find myself fettered. I began with a certain amount of fame; I wish to continue worthy of you." To the Directory he writes that the expeditions to Leghorn, Rome, and Naples are small affairs, but to be safely conducted must have one general in command. "I have made the campaign without consulting a soul; I should have done no good if I had had to share my views with another. I have gained some advantages over superior forces, and in utter want of everything, because, certain of your confidence, my marches have been as quick as my thoughts." He foretells disaster if he is shackled with another general. "Every one has his own method of making war. General Kellermann has more experience, and will do it better than I; but both together will do it very badly." With Barras he knew eloquence was useless, and therefore bribed him with a million francs. On May 10th was gained the terrible battle of the Bridge of Lodi, where he won promotion from his soldiers, and became their "little corporal," and where he told Las Cases that he "was struck with the possibility of becoming famous. It was then that the first spark of my ambition was kindled." On entering Milan he told Marmont, "Fortune has smiled on me to-day, only because I despise her favours; she is a woman, and the more she does for me, the more I shall exact from her. In our day no one has originated anything great; it is for me to give the example."

On May 15th, thirty-five days after the commencement of the campaign, he entered Milan, under a triumphal arch and amid the acclamations of the populace. On the previous evening he was guilty of what Dr. Johnson would have considered a fitting herald of his spoliation of picture-galleries--the perpetration of a pun. At a dinner-table the hostess observed that his youth was remarkable in so great a conqueror, whereat he replied, "Truly, madam, I am not very old at present--barely twenty-seven--but in less than twenty-four hours I shall count many more, for I shall have attained Milan" (_mille ans_).

On May 22nd he returned to Lodi, but heard immediately that Lombardy in general, and Pavia in particular, was in open revolt. He makes a terrible example of Pavia, shooting its chief citizens, and, for the only time, giving up a town to three hours' pillage. The Directory congratulates him on these severe measures: "The laws of war and the safety of the army render them legitimate in such circumstances." He writes them that had the blood of a single Frenchman been spilt, he would have erected a column on the ruins of Pavia, on which should have been inscribed, "Here was the town of Pavia."

On May 21st, Carnot replies to the letter from Lodi: "You appear desirous, citizen general, of continuing to conduct the whole series of military operations in Italy, at the actual seat of war. The Directory has carefully considered your proposition, and the confidence that they place in your talents and republican zeal has decided this question in the affirmative.... The rest of the military operations towards the Austrian frontier and round Mantua are absolutely dependent on your success against Beaulieu. The Directory feels how difficult it would be to direct them from Paris. It leaves to you in this respect the greatest latitude, while recommending the most extreme prudence. Its intention is, however, that the army shall cross into the Tyrol only after the expedition to the south of Italy."

This was a complete victory for Bonaparte (Bingham calls it the Directory's "abject apology"), and, as Scott points out, he now "obtained an ascendency which he took admirable care not to relinquish; and it became the sole task of the Directory, so far as Italy was concerned, to study phrases for intimating their approbation of the young general's measures."

He had forged a sword for France, and he now won her heart by gilding it. On May 16th the Directory had asked him to supply Kellermann with money for the army of the Alps, and by May 22nd he is able to write that six or eight million francs in gold, silver, ingots, or jewels is lying at their disposal with one of the best bankers in Genoa, being superfluous to the needs of the army. "If you wish it, I can have a million sent to Bale for the army of the Rhine." He has already helped Kellermann, and paid his men. He also announces a further million requisitioned from Modena. "As it has neither fortresses nor muskets, I could not ask for them."

Henceforth he lubricates the manifold wheels of French policy with Italian gold, and gains thereby the approbation and gratitude of the French armies and people. Meanwhile he does not neglect those who might bear him a grudge. To Kellermann and to all the Directors he sends splendid chargers. From Parma he has the five best pictures chosen for Paris--the Saint Jerome and the Madonna della Scodella, both by Correggio; the Preaching of St. John in the Desert, a Paul Veronese, and a Van Dyck, besides fine examples of Raphael, Caracci, &c.

The Directory is anxious that he shall chastise the English at Leghorn, as the fate of Corsica is somewhat dependent on it, whose loss "will make London tremble." They secretly dread a war in the Tyrol, forgetting that Bonaparte is a specialist in mountain fighting, educated under Paoli. They remind him that he has not sent the plans of his battles. "You ought not to lack draughtsmen in Italy. Eh! what are your young engineer officers doing?"

On May 31st Carnot writes to urge him to press the siege of Mantua, reasserting that the reinforcements which Beaulieu has received will not take from that army its sense of inferiority, and that ten battalions of Hoche's army are on the way. It approves and confirms the "generous fraternity" with which Bonaparte offers a million francs to the armies on the Rhine. On June 7th he tells the Directory that Rome is about to fulminate a bull against the French Royalists, but that he thinks the expedition to Naples should be deferred, and also a quarrel with Venice--at least till he has beaten his other enemies; it is not expedient to tackle every one at once. On June 6th he thanks Carnot for a kind letter, adding that the best reward to sweeten labour and perils is the esteem of the few men one really admires. He fears the hot weather for his men: "we shall soon be in July, when every march will cost us 200 sick." The same day he writes General Clarke that all is flourishing, but that the dog-star is coming on at a gallop, and that there is no remedy against its malign influence. "Luckless beings that we are! Our position with nature is merely observation, without control." He holds that the only safe way to end the campaign without being beaten is not to go to the south of Italy. On the 9th he thanks Kellermann for the troops he sends, and their excellent discipline. On the 11th--always as anxious to help his generals as himself--he urges the Directory to press the Swiss Government to refund La Harpe's property to his children.

"_Presentiment of ill._"--Marmont tells us what this was. The glass of his wife's portrait, which he always carried with him, was found to be broken. Turning frightfully pale, he said to Marmont, "My wife is either very ill, or unfaithful." She left Paris June 24th. Marmont says, "Once at Milan, General Bonaparte was very happy, for at that time he lived only for his wife.... Never love more pure, more true, more exclusive, has possessed the heart of any man."

No. 8.

Between June 15th and the renewal of Josephine's correspondence a glance at the intervening dates will show that Bonaparte and his army were not wasting time. The treaty with Rome was a masterpiece, as in addition to money and works of art, he obtained the port of Ancona, siege-guns with which to bombard Mantua, and best of all, a letter from the Pope to the faithful of France, recommending submission to the new government there. In consideration of this, and possibly yielding to the religious sentiments of Josephine, he spared Rome his presence--the only capital which he abstained from entering, when he had, as in the present case, the opportunity. It was not, however, until February 1797 that the Pope fulfilled his obligations under this Treaty, and then under new compulsion.

_Fortune._--Josephine's dog (see note to Letter 2, Series B).

FOOTNOTES

[41] No. 89 of Napoleon III.'s Correspondence of Napoleon I., vol. i.,
the last letter signed Buonaparte; after March 24 we only find
Bonaparte.

[42] Compelled to surrender Genoa, before Marengo takes place, he
swears to the Austrian general he will be back there in
fourteen days, and keeps his word.

[43] Two days later he evidently feels this letter too severe, and
writes: "All goes well. Pillage is less pronounced. This first
thirst of an army destitute of everything is quenched. The poor
fellows are excusable; after having sighed for three years at
the top of the Alps, they arrive in the Promised Land, and wish
to taste of it."

[44] Bingham, with his customary ill-nature, remarks that Bonaparte,
"in spite of the orders of the Directory, took upon himself to
sign the armistice." These orders, dated March 6th, were
intended for a novice, and no longer applicable to the
conqueror of two armies, and which a Despatch on the way, dated
April 25th, already modified. Jomini admits the wisdom of this
advantageous peace, which secured Nice and Savoy to France, and
gave her all the chief mountain-passes leading into Italy.

SERIES B

No. 1.

_July 6, Sortie from Mantua of the Austrians._--According to Jomini the French on this occasion were not successful (vol. viii. 162). In one of his several letters to the Directory on this date is seen Bonaparte's anxiety for reinforcements; the enemy has already 67,000 men against his available 40,000. Meanwhile he is helping the Corsicans to throw off the British yoke, and believes that the French possession of Leghorn will enable the French to gain that island without firing a shot.

No. 2.